RWBY: Bystanders
by CathedralOfFiction
Summary: What if Ruby and co. never tried to become Huntsmen and Huntresses? What if they just lived a normal life? What if they all, or mostly all, worked at a diner owned by Jaune's dad, Fletcher Arc? This is a story about the totally normal girl, Ruby Rose and her adventures in having a job. Rated T for content. (Back From Hiatus)
1. Chapter 1

**Alright, so for those of you that don't know, meaning, everyone that reads this story, I'm CathedralOfFiction, or James, and I'm currently writing a fanfic called** _ **RWBY: Red Rover**_ **. Now, shameless advertising of my other fic aside, this is one of the days where I take a break from my writing schedule for Red Rover, so I thought I'd write about something I've been tossing around in my head for the past few days. That idea would happen to be an alternate version of the RWBYverse where all the main characters are just civilians living out their lives. I may or may not use some of the canon for my other fic, such as original characters, and Ruby Rose being a Faunus, but most likely not.**

 **As it stands, this will be the setting of this story, which I will call,** _ **RWBY: Bystanders**_ **:**

 **Setting: Vale, near the coast(it has to have a coast somewhere because docks)**

 **Sub-Setting: Vale Residential District**

 **You know enough by now, so let me just schwoop on over to the story bit of this story. Amirite ladies?(I'm never right.)**

 _Location: Apartment 137, Evergreen Apartments_

 _Time: 8:07 AM, Vale Time_

 _Day: Tuesday_

The small room was dark, despite the time of the early morning, and a the soft sound of small breaths could be heard from the room's lone occupant. Said occupant was a girl, of about nineteen years of age, with short black hair, with red highlights. This crimsonette was sleeping soundly as the seconds ticked, her head filled with dreams of wolves and scythes. That is, it was, until her alarm struck exactly 8:08 AM, and began ringing, a loud obnoxious tone filling the room, and startling the crimsonette out of her reverie, and out of her bed, to the floor of the room.

"Ow! Son of a biscuit!" The crimsonette, angrily rubbed her head, then stood and hit her alarm, prompting the blare of the alarm to stop. Groggily, the girl grabbed her scroll from her nightstand, and walked into the kitchen of the small two room, one bath apartment.

"Heya, sis! Get a good night's sleep?" A cheery blonde girl sat already at the table, a bowl of cereal in front of her.

"Hey, Yang. Uh, yeah. Good sleep, until my stupid alarm went off. I should just throw the thing out."

"I won't let you do that, Ruby" Ruby simply rolled her eyes and went over to the cupboards, pulling out a box of highly unhealthy cereal titled _Pumpkin Pete's Marshmallow Flakes_ and grabbed a bowl, then walked over to the table and took the milk from Yang, and proceeded to make a bowl of cereal.

"Why not?"

Yang smiled a little, and twisted a lock of her long blonde hair around her finger. "Well, you've been out of school for about a year now, so I figured, until you go to college, you're gonna need to get a job. If you have a job, you'll have to wake up early. Without an alarm clock, you won't be able to wake up early, so you need to keep the alarm clock." Ruby swallowed a bite of cereal, and scowled, clearly displeased.

"Yang, I already have a job. I'm an artist, remember?"

"How many commissions do you get a month?"

"Uh, like, 7 or 8 in a good month, like 4 or 5 on average, why?"

"How much do you charge for a commission?"

"15 Lien for a monochrome drawing, 30 Lien for full colour. Why are you asking this?"

"So what you're saying is, at best you can make 240 L(L will be the sign for Lien) in a month?"

Ruby rubbed the back of her neck and nodded. "Yeah, what about it?"

"Ruby, you can't make a living on 240 L a month! You need a real job that pays by the hour. Besides, you need to start helping out with the rent around here. As much as I love you, I can't pay forever." Ruby laughed a little, then looked down at her bowl of _Marshmallow Flakes_ apologetically.

"Sorry, Yang. I know I need to help out. It's just-" Ruby sighed and propped her head up with her hand, her elbow resting on the table"I really want to be an artist, Yang. How will I find time to draw when I have a job?" Yang laughed a little, and reached across the table, and took one of Ruby's hands.

"Rubes, look, not every artist got their start immediately, okay? You'll have spare time to draw and do whatever during breaks, and just free time. But in the meantime, before you get your 'big break' you'll need to have something to tide you over. Besides, having some extra money would be nice wouldn't it?" Yang smiled at Ruby, then patted her hand, and stood up. "I already got you a job interview, too. It's at this really cool diner about two blocks away. I can even drop you off there every day on Bumblebee, on my way to the shop."

"What's the name of the place?"

"It's called 'The Crescent Rose Diner'. I've eaten there once or twice, and it's like, really good. Plus, the owner, a dude named Fletcher, is like, really nice, and he said he needed some extra hands, so I told him about you and he said if you came in today, he'd interview you!"

"Yang, today!? When were you planning on telling me that!?"

"Well, right about now, actually" Ruby let out an exasperated sigh, and finished her cereal. Picking her bowl up, she joined Yang in the kitchen and started to wash her bowl, before setting it in the sink.

"When do we need to be there?" Yang checked her watch.

"Well, it's 8:17 now, and he said somewhere around nine. You've got like, 40 minutes. Ruby grumbled and walked back to her room.

"Let me get some clothes out and take a shower then, Yang"

Ruby grumbled internally. _Figures she wouldn't tell me until the day of the interview! Like really Yang? Giving me 40 minutes to prepare for my first ever job interview!? That is cruel._ Ruby shook her head a little as she selected her outfit for the day, then walked across the hall to the bathroom, where she quickly stripped out of her pajamas, and slipped into the shower. After about 3 minutes, Ruby stepped out and dried herself off, brushed her teeth, and her hair, then got dressed. Looking the mirror, Ruby smiled. Clad in black combat boots, a pair of dark blue jeans, a silver tee shirt with a Beowolf design on it, with a red hoodie that had black sleeves, with a silver rose necklace and a pair of red headphones with rose designs on them, Ruby thought she looked ready for a job interview. _I've got this, I'm gonna nail this interview! Who wouldn't hire me?_ Satisfied, Ruby stepped out into the hall, then back into her room, where she picked up her scroll, which she had left in there when she picked out her clothes, and her wallet, which was resting on her nightstand, then went back to the dining room.

"Yang, I'm dressed, what now?" Yang popped around the corner, holding a bundle of clothes, with her scroll and wallet clenched between her teeth. She jerked her head towards the bathroom, and raised an inquisitive eyebrow. "Yeah, there's hot water. I took a cold shower." Yang rolled her eyes, but nodded, and ducked into the bathroom, closing the door with her foot as she went inside. After a minute, the shower turned on, but by that time, Ruby was already in the living room, too far to hear it, as she watched some random cartoon, X-Ray and Vav, or something like that, waiting for Yang to get done in the shower. Just as a fight scene was starting, Yang plopped onto the couch next to Ruby. Clad her normal attire, blue jeans and kneehigh boots, with a yellow shirt with a flame design, under a leather jacket, with her hair put back in a ponytail, Yang smiled, and grabbed the remote, switching the TV off.

"Now, Ruby, we wait. While we wait though, I figured we could talk about your social life. Or y'know, you lack of social life." Yang smiled as Ruby gasped a little, looking at Yang a bit indignantly.

"I have a social life, Yang!"

"People who commission you don't count, Rubes."

"I wasn't gonna say people who commission me, Yang."

"Were you gonna say Dad or Uncle Qrow?"

"...Yes."

"They don't count either"

"Yang, why do we need to talk about social stuff?" Ruby crossed her arms, and sagged against the couch. Yang rolled her eyes and scooched over to Ruby, putting an arm around her little sister, and pulling her close.

"Because, you're gonna start a new job, hopefully. This job is at a diner, and working at a diner, unless you're cooking, will require you to interact with customers, and your coworkers. Well, cooks do the coworkers thing too, but you can't cook to save your life, so, yeah."

"Hey! I totally can cook!"

"Ruby, ramen noodles and microwave meals don't count. Anyways, you're gonna need to work with and talk to people, so you're gonna need to be more socially active. That includes making friends, alright?" Ruby pouted for a few more seconds, before sighing, rolling her eyes, and nodding with a smile. "Good!" Yang checked her scroll. It was 8:25. "Hmm, it's 8:25. He said they would be closed till lunch today, so I think maybe we can just pop on by" Disentangling herself from Ruby, Yang stood up, then frowned. "Ruby, go put your hair back up in your bun"

Ruby touched her hair, then frowned. "Why? What's wrong with it now?"

"Nothing, it just makes you look cuter, and much more professional. Plus I told you to, so you have to" Ruby smiled and stood up, then went to the bathroom, and came out 2 minutes later, some of her excess hair tied back in a bun, with one lock of hair hanging down the right side of her face, framing it nicely. "Good, now, let's go, Fletcher will be real excited to meet you!"

Yang spun on her heel and walked out, with Ruby in tow, and descended the stairs, and walked out onto the sidewalk, up to Yang's bike. Yang grabbed the helmets dangling from the handlebars, and handed one to Ruby, donning one of her own as she hopped onto the bike.

"Get on and hold on Ruby. Make sure that helmet is on nice and tight!" Ruby nodded as she got her helmet on, then hopped on the bike, wrapping her arms around Yang's waist.

"Alright, I'm ready!" Yang grinned and slowly peeled out of their parking spot, before accelerating a little bit, staying just under the speed limit as they drove through Vale, aiming to end up at The Crescent Rose Diner. After about fifteen minutes, they pulled up and parked out front of the diner, and then hopped off. The diner was, nice. It had four sets of large windows, and was situated on a pier. One set of windows, looked out over the beach, another towards the ocean, the third towards a forest nearby, and the last back towards the city. It had a nice green and gold colour scheme, and had a sign over the front door that read The Crescent Rose Diner, and it had a rose with a golden reverse crescent above it. Yang and Ruby stepped inside, and immediately caught the smell of freshly baked cookies. Looking around, they saw only a few people in the diner. A boy in a green jacket, with black hair tied in a ponytail, was washing a table while talking to a girl with short orange-red hair. At the counter, a girl with long red hair and a bronze coloured jacket was talking to a blonde boy with a black hoodie. At the table nearest to the door, a slightly older man with dark brown hair that was kept in a bun, plus a goatee adorning his face, sat while looking over some paperwork. As Yang and Ruby walked in, the man looked up, then smiled, standing.

"Yang, you're back! Am I safe to assume this is Ruby?"

"Yeah, Mr Arc, this is Ruby! She's here for a job interview. Little devil needs a job anyways" Ruby huffed a little, but then waved to Mr Arc.

"Hi, Ruby Rose, at your service, Mr Arc!" She stuck her hand out and smiled. Mr Arc took her hand and smiled back, laughing a little. "What're you laughing at? Did I say something?"

The blonde boy from the counter piped up. "Dad likes for his employees, well, for everyone, to call him Fletch. It's short for Fletcher. Trust me, it's easier if you go with it." Ruby nodded a thank you to the blonde, who smiled back, then turned back to the redhead and resumed talking. Fletch cleared a little of the table he had been working at off, and motioned for Ruby to sit.

"Yang, why don't you go talk with Jaune and Pyrrha while I interview Ruby?" Yang nodded and walked over to the counter, where she effortlessly joined the conversation Pyrrha and Jaune were having. "Now, Ruby" Fletch laced his hands together, and propped his elbows up on the table, then rested his chin on the platform created by his two hands"How are you?"

"I'm doing well, thank you!"

"Good to hear, now uh, for the questions. Name?"

"Ruby Rose."

"Age?"

"19"

"Familial relations?"

"My sister, my dad, and my uncle."

"Their names?"

"Yang Xiao Long, Taiyang Xiao Long, and Qrow Branwen, respectively"

"Alright, uh, criminal records?" As in, have you committed any crimes?"

"Not that I know of, sir."

"Call me Fletcher" Fletcher shuffled some papers then sighed, setting the stack down. "Look, screw the questions. Just tell me about you Ruby."

"Uh, well, I'm Ruby Rose, I'm nineteen and I live with my sister Yang. I like to draw, and read, and listen to music and play video games."

"More in depth? Why do you want this job?"

"To be honest Mr Arc, I really don't want it. I mean no offense to you or your diner, I just don't want it."

Fletcher smiled, and raised an eyebrow. "Why is that?"

"Well, I really want to be an artist, I love to draw, it is my passion! I've always dreamed about becoming an artist, and once I save the money up, I'm gonna try to get into an art school, then pursue a career as an artist. I might do some writing on the side, so that I have stories to go with my art, but that is besides the point."

"If you love art so much, why aren't you already pursuing a career as an artist?"

"Well, I live with Yang, which means she needs to buy groceries for 2, and pay for a 2-person apartment, as well as pay for the amount of utilities that 2 people use. I can't help much with the rent because at best I make 240 L a month off drawing commissions, and I can't pay for rent and save for art school."

"Hmm. So you want to help your sister then?"

"Yes, sir."

"You're hired"

Ruby's brow furrowed, a look of confusion spreading across her face. "I'm sorry?"

"You're hired" Fletcher shrugged and smiled.

"Why? You haven't even seen my resume or gotten any references from me!"

"You seem like a good person, Ruby. You're willing to, temporarily, put your goals on hold to help your sister, plus, you speak passionately about your dreams, which means, at least to me, that you're capable of great devotion and dedication. I also perceive you as caring and good-hearted, and you're polite. I look for all those things in an employee. Plus, let's face it, I'm running a diner. Unless you cook, all you need to know how to do is carry trays, take orders, and wash tables. So, you're hired. I promise you'll love it here, Miss Rose" Fletcher smiled and stood, offering a hand to Ruby, who grabbed it. He pulled Ruby to her feet, shook her hand, then motioned for her to follow him. "Alright, everyone, gather round!" The boy with the black hair, and the other redhead walked over, and sat down, as Fletcher pushed Ruby in front of him. He pointed at the girl with the long red hair. "Ruby, this is Pyrrha, Pyrrha this is Ruby" He pointed to the blonde boy. "Ruby, this is my son, Jaune. Son, this is Ruby" Next he pointed to Yang. "Yang, this is your sister. Ruby, you know your sister" Now he shifted his finger to the black haired boy. "Ruby, this is Ren, and the girl next to him is Nora. Ren, Nora, this is Ruby" Everyone smiled and shook Ruby's hand, as she stood there, a little embarrassed. "Alright guys, big news. Ruby here, is our newest employee. We're gonna get her one of the spare uniforms, and then she'll start today at lunch, and you guys are going to teach her how to work here at the diner. Pyrrha, you're up first, since we'll probably put her behind the counter and have her take some orders to start her off, okay? Next, Jaune, you'll teach her how to wait tables and stuff. Ren, Nora, you'll teach her how to...clean the diner...huh, you guys caught the easy ride." Everyone smiled a little brighter. "Now, I'm going to take all my papers, and go into my office downstairs, and finish up my work. The rest of you, get to work. Ren, take Ruby to get her uniform, Nora, show her to the dressing rooms. Yang, don't you have a job to get to?" Yang checked her watch and blanked, her jaw dropping a little.

"Yes actually, I'm gonna be late!" Yang shot to her feet, gave Ruby a hug and a kiss on the forehead, then ran and sprinted through the door. A second later, she came back in and tossed Ruby's bike helmet to her, then ran back out and mounted her bike, then sped off. Ruby smiled and shook her head a little. She turned to say something to Fletcher, but he was already collecting his papers and heading downstairs. Nora grabbed Ruby's arm and smiled, startling the girl, then started dragging her towards a door marked 'Employees Only', with Ren in tow.

"Nora, easy, you're going to hurt the rookie"

"Nonsense, Ren! She's fine!" Ruby laughed a little nervously as they passed through the doors into an employee lounge, with an attached employee bathroom, and two employee dressing rooms, as well as a small kitchenette, and a storage room. Nora dragged her to the storage room, and had Ruby sit down on a small bench, then sat down next to her.

"Ruby, what's your size?" Ren looked over his shoulder at Ruby.

"Huh? Why would you need to know that?" Ruby blushed and covered her chest.

"Clothing size, Ruby"

"Oh, uh, medium will do" Ren nodded, and opened a box, and started rifling through it.

"So, Ruby! We're gonna be like, best friends. Well, not best friends, because Ren is my best friend. Him and Pyrrha. Jaune too. Still good friends though! I can't wait! You're gonna come to the beach with us, and you're gonna go out on trips and stuff, and come to our parties and you're gonna get to play games and stuff and it'll be like, awesome!"

"Uh, what?"

"Well I mean, everyone who works here is entitled to mandatory Crescent Rose team trips and outings, so you will be coming with us!"

"Mandatory?"

Ren laughed. "Not really, but Nora will make you go. You can't weasel out of it, and you can't avoid it unless you are horribly sick" Ren pulled up a shirt, an apron, and a small cap, then tossed them to Ruby. "You don't really have to wear the cap, if you don't like it. Nora, show our new friend to the dressing room" Nora smiled and picked Ruby up, carrying her bridal style out of the room, with no small amount of protesting, and laughing, from Ruby.

"Alright, put on the uniform, peasant!" Nora shouted happily while Ruby looked around nervously, noticing the lack of individual stalls. "Relax Ruby, you don't have anything I haven't seen before. Just change. I promise not to look." Ruby nodded and slipped headphones off of her, then her hoodie off, then her shirt, and quickly changed into the diner uniform shirt and apron. The shirt was a dark green with a silver rose on the front, with white text wrapped around the top of it that read 'The Crescent Rose Diner' and the apron was a simple gold coloured apron with a pocket on it. Ruby grabbed her hoodie and slipped it back on, then grabbed her headphones and rested them back across her neck, before looking in a mirror and smiling. "Oooh, looking good, Ruby!" Nora laughed a little, then took Ruby by the hand, and dragged her out of the dressing room, and was about to drag her to the counter, when suddenly a hand dropped on Ruby's shoulder, and stopped her. Turning to look, Ruby saw Jaune, smiling.

"Hey, you left this on the counter when Nora abducted you" Jaune held out Ruby's bike helmet, and Ruby grabbed it, then opened the dressing room door and tossed her helmet in, then nodded to Jaune, who nodded back, before allowing Nora to drag her to the counter, with Jaune in tow. As they reached the counter, Ruby saw Ren already waiting, and talking to Pyrrha.

"...and that's why Blake shouldn't be allowed at our next airsoft match." Ren finished up some statement about a guy named Blake as Ruby, Nora and Jaune walked up. "Oh, hey Ruby. The uniform suits you." Ren smiled then turned to Pyrrha.

"Ren is right, that uniform really cuts you a striking figure, Ruby" Ruby nodded, blushing a little, right up until Nora lifted her again, and put her on the counter, where Pyrrha laughed and grabbed her, then helped her down to the ground behind the counter. "Now, all of you, scatter, except for you Ruby" Everyone stood up and dispersed through the diner, while Pyrrha directed Ruby to stand by a small console in the counter, that was just above the register. "Alright, Ruby, are you ready to go back to school?"

"Could I ask a question?"

"Fire away!"

"Why does Nora grab people?" Ruby blushed a little bit and shrunk.

"Nora can be a bit intimidating when you first meet her, considering the grabbing and abducting thing, but Nora honestly has a heart of gold, and she is a lot more tolerable once you know her. Generally, you'll get used to the grabbing after about a week. That never stops." Pyrrha laughed and shook her head a little. "Now, like I said, you're going back to school, but only for a little bit. Try to keep up" Ruby sighed and nodded. Pyrrha tapped a key on the keyboard of the console, and it lit up, displaying a small seating chart of the whole diner, as wells as a list of on duty workers, which included everyone in the room, including Ruby, which surprised Ruby, and a small section with a blinking bar that indicated text was meant to be typed there. "Alright, as you can probably see, we have our seating arrangement, our list of workers, and our order area. Now, when someone comes up here, you assign them a table, and one of our servers will take them over to the table. If there aren't any available servers, just take them yourself, and hurry back to the counter. Now, when they come up here, before you assign them a table, ask them first, if they would like to dine inside or outside, and if they would like a table or a booth. Obviously, if there are no outside seats, or no inside seats, don't ask them that, and if there are no tables, or no booths, don't ask about those, and just ask what applies. Next, if they come in and sit here at the counter, ask them what they want to drink, and use this machine here to make them a drink. I'll teach you how in a minute. Now, the order screen, is not actually for you to type down someone's order, it is actually a literal order screen, meaning, it will show the order of people waiting to be seated here, will show you the order that people's orders are being cooked in here, and will show you how long a table has gone without a server visit here. Simple rules, call out the numbers in the waiting to be seated column from top to bottom when a seat opens up, and ring up an order in by calling the order number from top to bottom. Lastly, if you see a table has gone a while without service, hit this button, to isolate the list of on duty servers, and then hit this button, to ping one of them, to bring them here, then send them to the table. Now, after you assign someone their seat, and the server takes their order, the order will pop up here, and then once it is ready, someone will bring it to you, and then you call for the person whose order it is, got it?" Ruby blinked once or twice, then nodded. It was a lot of information to take in, as Pyrrha had just hit her with a wall of words, but Ruby thought she understood. Pyrrha smiled. "Okay, next, a little lesson on behaviour. When dealing with a customer, be polite, and act friendly. If they are getting unruly or being rude, or violent, call for me or Fletch, and we'll deal with them. Next, always, always, always, make sure they are satisfied, because we actually care about their experience, and you should too. Got it?" Ruby nodded again.

"Yup, basically, be nice, and all will be well, right?"

"Yes, good to see you got the gist of it. Now, let's teach you how to make the drinks!"

-A Few Hours Later-

"Okay! We're about to open up, so Ruby, remember, be nice, and make sure they are satisfied. Blake and Sun, our other 2 servers will be showing up soon, before we open, obviously, so don't worry about running short on people. I've already texted them both, so they know that you're here, and you're new, so don't sweat it when it comes to them." Ruby smiled and nodded, letting out a small sigh. It had taken a few hours, but Pyrrha, Ren, Jaune, Nora and even Fletcher, who had come up to hand Ruby her badge, had run her through quite a few dry runs, and she felt confident in her ability to perform and even make drinks for the customers at the counter. "Remember, when they walk up, you say:"

"Hello, my name is Ruby! Welcome to the Crescent Rose, how can I help you?" Ruby smiled and put on her best face as she spoke. A bell rung, and Ruby looked over to see a girl with black hair and amber eyes and a boy with blonde hair and dark blue eyes walk in, smiling and talking.

"Blake, Sun, you're here! Meet Ruby!" Pyrrha and Nora shouted for Blake and Sun to walk over, which they did.

"Hello, Ruby, I'm Blake" The black haired girl, Blake, gave Ruby a small smile, and shook her hand, then walked over to the dressing room.

"Sup, I'm Sun, Sun Wukong! You look nice. Don't tell Blake I complimented you. Anyways, good luck on your first day, Ruby" Sun nodded and winked then walked over to the guy's dressing room.

"Well, Sun seemed nice. Blake seemed, distant. Like she didn't care much"

"Blake will open up in time, she just hasn't met you yet, so she won't seem like much at first" Ren smiled after speaking, then patted Ruby on the back. "Look, don't worry, everyone here is gonna like you, don't worry. You're doing fine, and your first day will be great!"

"Yeah! Besides, Dad likes you, which means you'll probably get easy ride here. He loves everyone here like they're his kids. One of them just so happens to be his kid, but I digress. I think you're gonna be doing a great job here. How's this, if you do really good today, we'll call up your sister, and all of us will go out to the beach after work?" Jaune smiled and cocked his head inquisitively, until Ruby smiled back and nodded. Ruby looked to Nora, expecting her to speak too, but instead was met by a crushing hug that stole all the breath out of Ruby's lungs.

Fletcher walked in and rapped his knuckles on the counter as Blake and Sun came up to the counter as well. "All right boys and girls, the work day is about to start, and we have a rookie on board, so the waters will be rough!" Ruby called out in protest to that, but Fletcher merely smiled and ignored her. "Jokes aside, this is Ruby's first shift ever, do everything you can to make it easy for her, we don't a repeat of the Arslan Incident guys"

"The Arslan Incident?"

"Last rookie was a chick named Arslan Altan, and she had a panic attack on her first day. To be fair though, there was a massive storm, and authorities ordered everyone inside, so the place was full to capacity" Jaune explained calmly. Ruby nodded.

"Okay, pep talk over, short and sweet today. Get ready everyone!" Fletcher walked back downstairs as all the servers took their positions. Blake, Sun, Jaune, Nora, Pyrrha and Ren all stood by the counter, simply waiting. The clock on the wall struck 12:00, signalling it was noon, and as if on cue, a car pulled up and a man walked into the store. He was bespectacled, had green hair, a yellow tie, a dress shirt that was half tucked in, and two mismatching shoes. He stepped right up to the counter.

Ruby smiled and put on her friendliest face. "Hello, my name is Ruby! Welcome to the Crescent Rose, how may I help you?"

"Ah, yes, I would like to get a drink to go Miss Ruby!" The man spoke excitedly, and with a copious amount of vigour that took Ruby aback for a second. However, Ruby quickly recovered and smiled.

"What drink would you like sir?"

"A Storm Flower, please, extra ice, two cherries not three, and please, add extra whipped cream" Ruby nodded and grabbed a cup, then spun to the drinks machine. A few seconds later, a mint and cherry flavoured drink with whipped cream and two cherries was in her hand, then on the counter in front of the man.

"That'll be 6 L sir!" The man nodded and took ou and 1 L chip, and set it on the counter, before briskly walking out and driving away.

"Wow! The rookie got lucky! Oobleck was going simple today!" Ruby looked at Sun confusedly.

"What?"

"Normally Oobleck, the guy you just served, comes in and orders a drink with a whole list of specific ingredient measurements and preparation instructions and demands they be followed to the letter!" Sun laughed a little. "You're really lucky. To be honest, I was kinda looking forward to seeing you struggle with Oobleck's ord-OW!" Sun was cut off by a hard elbow by Blake, who was frowning at him.

"I'm sure Ruby would have done fine with one of Oobleck's normal orders, Sun" Blake smiled reassuringly at Ruby, who smiled back, as several cars pulled up, and people started walking in. Ruby sighed a little, then turned, put on a smile and prepared herself.

"Hello, my name is Ruby! Welcome to Crescent Rose, how may I help you?" Ruby smiled pleasantly at a girl in a brown sweater, with brown and orange hair and a beret, and her three friends as they walked up.

"Table for four please?"

"Inside or outside?"

"Inside, if you please"

"Booth or table?"

"Booth, thank you"

"Alright, if you'd follow Jaune here, he'll take you to your seats!"

"Thanks, Red"

"Of course, have a nice day!" Ruby gave a little wave, then turned to her next customer, a couple, both in white hoodies. "Hello, my name is Ruby! Welcome to the Crescent Rose, how may I help you?"

-An Hour Later-

"Alright, if you'll follow Ren here, he'll take you to your table!" Ruby smiled as she assigned the 43rd customer of her shift. In one hour too. Productive day it seemed. Ruby checked the time, confirming it had only been an hour since noon, and shrugged, looking up as four people walked in. The lead one had grey hair and a cane, and Ruby immediately recognized him as the Headmaster of Beacon Academy in Vale. "Ah, hello, my name is Ruby! Welcome to the Crescent Rose, how may I help you, Headmaster Ozpin?" Ruby affected a large smile, and tried to look calm, but in truth, she was freaking out. She was standing a few feet away from one of the world's most prestigious Huntsmen.

"Table for four, outside please, Miss Ruby"

"Of course, uh, we don't seem to have any servers available, so if you'd follow me, I'll show you to your seats!" Ruby stepped out from behind the counter, picking up four menus and one ordering tablet, and began to walk away, with the four, whom she now recognized as General Ironwood of Atlas, and the other two headmasters, as well as Ozpin, in tow. As they reached an empty table, and sat, Ruby smiled again. "So, what would you gentlemen like to drink?"

"Coffee, two sugars, please" Ozpin nodded.

"Same as him, Miss" Ironwood smiled.

"Whiskey, please" The Mistral headmaster smiled.

"Cherry Dr. Grimm if you would!" The Vacuo headmaster yawned and leaned back in his chair, nodding to Ruby.

"Do you guys know what you want to eat?" All four headmasters nodded, and Ruby, just finished with writing down their drinks, got ready to write again. "Alright, fire away!"

"Steak, medium rare, with a side of mashed potatoes if you please." Ozpin continued smiling.

"Same as Ozpin, again." Ironwood rolled his neck, then smiled.

"Pasta, with tomato sauce and meatballs" Mistral headmaster was smiling as well.

"Burger, with fries." The Vacuo headmaster licked his lips, looking at a picture of the burger on the menu. Ruby took all four of their menus, nodded, and walked off. As she got inside she freaked out a little, and Pyrrha walked over, looking concerned.

"Ruby, what happened?"

"Pyrrha! Oh my Oum I just took the orders of the headmasters from the four academies! THE HUNTER ACADEMIES PYRRHA!" Ruby quietly squealed as she transferred the orders of the headmasters to the cooks, and began making their drinks.

"Ooh, that sounds like a story to tell." Ruby nodded energetically, then grabbed a tray, and placed the four drinks on it, and walked back out, smiling to Pyrrha the whole way.

"Gentlemen, your drinks! Can I get you anything else?" Ruby held the tray perpendicular to her body, pressing it to her legs as she smiled.

"Not in particular, Miss Ruby. I will call if we need anything though. I look forward to my meal, I hear this place is very nice"

"Don't worry, Headmasters, the meal will not disappoint. We serve the best!" The four men nodded, then turned away from Ruby, and Ruby smiled, then walked away, squealing internally, then externally as she passed through the door.

"Pyrrha, this is sooo coool!" Pyrrha merely laughed, and pointed to the counter, where a group of customers had appeared. Ruby sighed, but smiled and got to work. "Hello, my name is Ruby! Welcome to Crescent Rose, how may I help you?"

-Two Hours Later-

Ruby had just seated a group of tourists, and was heading back to the counter when it happened. One moment she is walking along, and the next, she is on the ground, toppled over a girl in a white tee shirt and skinny jeans. Ruby quickly rolled off the girl then stood, reaching her hands down and helping the girl, who Ruby now saw had a long white ponytail, to her feet.

"What were you doing? Don't you ever watch where you're going?" The girl looked mad, and sounded mad, as she stared Ruby down, demanding an answer.

"Well, sorry, I wasn't looking. I must not have noticed you, and that is why I ran into you" Ruby smiled sheepishly, and the girl gave an annoyed sigh.

"It's fine, look, you seem to work here, where might I find Fletcher Arc?"

"Well, he is downstairs right now, but you could wait up here by the counter while I go get him."

"That sounds acceptable"

Ruby smiled, then leaned to Pyrrha. "Cover the register, I need to go get Mr Arc!" Ruby affected a brisk walk, and descended the stairs, then walked up to Fletcher's office, and knocked twice on the door.

"One second, Ruby!" Ruby was surprised to see he knew who it was, but shrugged, and sat down outside his office, and waited. After three minutes, Fletcher came out. "What is it, Rosie?"

"Someone upstairs wants to see you, Fletch" Fletcher nodded, and Ruby stood, and started to lead the way upstairs. As Ruby got up the last step, and stepped out into the diner, she slammed straight into the white haired girl and knocked both of them over again, spilling the drink that the white haired girl had, right onto the girl herself. This time, she was furious beyond measure.

"AGAIN!? YOU LITTLE RED-"

 **There we go, Chapter One: The First Day, is now done. Have funs. Now, I want some noice feedback here, tell me if you want this to continue, if you want it to be longer chapters, shorter chapters, or stay the same. Also, here is a list of cameos this chapter:**

 **Cameos:**

 **Ozpin**

 **Team CVFY**

 **Dr Oobleck**

 **Arslan Altan**

 **There. Now, cameos do not include the characters that are actually in the story at this point, but does include characters that are mentioned, implied, or seen. So keep that in mind. Now, ta ta for now.**

 **Love,**

 **CathedralOfFiction**

 **James**


	2. Chapter 2, Part 1

**Alright, firstly, to BleachCadelina, I must thank you for 'keeping an eye' on this story, and I appreciate your feedback. I will try not to put huge blocks of text in the story as much. Now, to Lyricoe, fear not, because I will definitely be writing more of this. I'm quite invested in this idea, and I have a few notions as to how I would like a story like this to play out. Finally, for kaiju62, I'm really glad you enjoyed it, and I will definitely be writing more of this. I think you'll like the way Weiss and Ruby get along here. Also, yeah, I wanted to make a Ruby a massive fangirl for Ozpin. Or like, any Huntsman!**

Ruby rubbed the back of her head, feeling a little ache from her collision with the white-haired girl from earlier. She shook her head a little as Fletcher took her arm and pulled her to her feet, then repeated the process with the white-haired girl.

"Oh my Oum, are you alright?" The white-haired girl looked a bit frightened, as she scanned Ruby for any visual injuries. When Ruby nodded, the girl's expression turned sour, and angry. "Good, now why in Remnant are you so clumsy!? This is the second time you've knocked me over!" Ruby laughed nervously and started mumbling, to which the girl scowled at. "You should learn to watch where you're going before you trip over your own feet. Look, I'm sorry alright? Just try not to be so clumsy in the future, got it? I won't be this nice if you knock me over again." With that remark, the girl turned to Fletcher. "You must be Fletcher Arc, correct?"

"Uh, yeah. I'm Fletcher. Who are you?"

"I'm Weiss! I'm here about the open positions within your establishment. I'd like to apply for a job."

"Okaaaaaay. So uh, if you'll just follow me, we can do the interview in my office, alright?" Weiss nodded and made to follow Fletcher back into the basement he and Ruby had just come out of, leaving Ruby standing alone with an embarrassed flush over her face.

"I promise I'll make this up to you, Miss Weiss!" As Ruby called to Weiss, Jaune slid up next to Ruby, and looked from the departing Weiss, then to Ruby.

"Hey, Ruby, are you okay?"

"Oh, hey Jaune. Uh, yeah I'm fine. I just uh, 'ran into' that girl. Literally. I knocked her over twice, and I think she might be mad at me."

Jaune laughed a little and shrugged. "Look, Ruby, I'm sure if you just apologize after she's done talking with Dad, that you two can make up and be friends or some junk. Now, uh, not to bother, but Pyrrha doesn't like running the counter, so maybe you should run back. I'll talk to you after the shift, okay?" Ruby smiled and nodded, then walked over to the counter, hastily relieving Pyrrha of her duty at the counter, then settled herself in to start taking orders again.

"Hello, my name is Ruby! Welcome to the Crescent Rose, how can I help you?"

-Two And A Half Hours Later-

Ruby leaned on the counter, and blew some hair out of her face. It was late in the day, and about thirty minutes from closing time. There was barely anyone in the diner aside from the workers, and Fletcher was over in the corner talking to the Weiss girl, looking thoroughly bored. Ruby could sympathize. No one had come in to be served in the past hour and a half, so she was just waiting around. _I wonder what Yang is doing right now? Probably just fixing up some dusty old cars. Ew. I don't understand why she likes being a mechanic! It's all oily and greasy an-_

 ***DING***

Ruby's internal monologue was cut off as the bell above the door rang, signalling that a customer had just walked into the diner. Standing up straight, Ruby turned...and laid her eyes upon two blondes. Yang, and her father, Taiyang, standing right in front of her. Ruby's eyes lit up upon seeing Taiyang, and she practically leapt over the counter to give him a hug.

"DAD! OH MY OUM YOU'RE HERE!"

Taiyang laughed and wrapped his arms around Ruby, then frowned. "Is it normal for the service to hug the customer?" Ruby laughed a little, then backed up and smiled. "Hey, Rosebud! So you finally got a job, eh? Look at you! If you didn't live with Yang and have your own apartment and mode of transportation, I could almost call you a functioning adult!"

"Dad! No fair! I just got out of high school!"

"And you've been living with Yang for nearly 2 years. What, you turn 20 in a month, right?"

"Yeah, but-"

"But you haven't had a job at all since you got out of high school? I know. Anyways, who we gotta kill to get some service around here Rubes?" Taiyang flashed a winning smile as he changed the subject to stop the argument. Ruby shook her head, but smiled and showed Yang and Tai to a table.

"What do you guys want?" Ruby smiled and looked from her dad to her sister.

Yang tapped her chin, then smiled. "Chocolate milkshake, with a cherry please, Rubes."

"Vanilla milkshake, plain." Taiyang smiled again and Ruby skipped over to the counter, and then to the drinks machine, and started to make their drinks. Whistling a little tune as she finished up both drinks, Ruby turned and started to walk back to Yang and Tai, when she collided with something. Rather, someone. Weiss. They both fell, and Ruby managed to spill both of the milkshakes on Weiss.

"You dolt! I told you to watch where you're going! Oum, how do you even function when you're **this** clumsy!? And look at this! You spilled your stupid drinks all over me! This is unacceptable! I only own like, three shirts, and now you've gone and put chocolate all over one them! Why is it that you can't just look up once in a while huh? Too self absorbed to notice anything else?"

Ruby gaped a little, then frowned. "Hey, this was an accident, princess! I didn't mean to spill milkshakes on you, and I'm sorry for running into you. Literally and figuratively!" Ruby picked herself up, and shook her head, then set the glasses on the counter, scowling. "Besides, it's not the end of the world! Just wash the shirt, or get a new one. There are stores all over Vale that sell clothes, just go pick some up!" Ruby pulled out a rag, then turned and grabbed Weiss, and pulled her over to her, and started to use the rag to help Weiss clean off. "Look, I'm sorry, got it? It won't happen again." Ruby shoved the rag into Weiss' hands, then went to the dressing room, and began searching for her silver t-shirt. _Jeez, who does she think she is? So I ran into her, big deal. So I spilled a drink on her. Who cares? She can always get a new shirt freaking anywhere in town!_ Finding her shirt, she burst out of the dressing room and stalked over to Weiss, then grabbed her again, and pulled her to the dressing room.

"Hey, what are you doing!? Unhand me this instant!" Ruby ignored Weiss and pulled her into the dressing room, and pushed her onto one of the seats, then threw her silver shirt at her.

"Here, put this on"

"What?"

"The shirt, princess, put it on. Your shirt is wet, and white and wet don't really go together if you catch my drift. Just put on my shirt and I'll be out of your hair" Weiss blinked, her mouth slightly agape, before she quickly switched shirts, then looked up to Ruby, blushing a little.

"Ah, I have to say thank you, so uh, thank you, miss. But understand, we're not friends just because of this. All you've done to me today is run into me and knock me over. Until you can prove you're not a hazard to my health, we will not be friends" Ruby rolled her eyes.

"When would I be able to prove anything to you? It isn't like I'll be seeing you again anytime soon."

"Actually…"

"Actually what?" Ruby looked down at Weiss and cocked her head, a frown evident on her face. _Oum, I try to help and all I get is a half-assed thank you, and a warning that I'm a 'hazard' to her health. This girl is a real ice queen._

"I've just been hired here. Mister Arc has partnered me with another girl named Ruby, and I'll be working with her tomorrow. Assuming you work tomorrow, you can start making things up then."

"You're kidding"

"I know, I dislike the prospect of working with you just as much as you don't want to work with me, but we need to remain professional. I can only hope Ruby is better than you are"

"I'm Ruby"

"I beg your pardon?"

"I'm Ruby, Ruby Rose. You're going to be working with me, I guess…" Ruby sagged a little bit, and Weiss groaned, then pinched the bridge of her nose. Ruby opened her mouth to speak, but then the door opened, revealing Blake, Nora and Pyrrha.

Pyrrha waved. "Is everyone okay in here? I heard Ruby ran into someone again then dragged a girl in here, so we just wanted to make sure that everyone is dandy in here"

Blake smiled at Ruby, but didn't speak, whereas Nora prepared a torrent of comments, and unleashed them as one. "Ruby how dare you get on top of someone three times and get them wet without even going on a first date? Then drag them back into a small room against their will to do Oum knows what!? For shame! In some kingdoms, you could get arrested for this behaviour!" Both Weiss and Ruby blushed, and Ruby used her hoodie to hide her furiously reddening face, while Weiss spluttered indignantly, trying and failing miserably to piece sounds together into words.

"Nora! That is first of all, lewd, and second of all, a very big insinuation! I'm sure Ruby had no intention to engage in unwanted intimate contact with this woman!" Blake started laughing uncontrollably as Pyrrha tried to scold Nora, who had raised her hands, and made a rough approximation of the number '69' and was smushing the 6 and 9 together, making small little gasps and moans as she giggled. "NORA! STOP THAT THIS INSTANT!" Blake was on the floor, laughing, holding her sides and wiping tears from her face. Ruby blushed harder and hid behind both her hoodie and Weiss, the latter of which turned and glared at Ruby, her eyes drilling holes into the crimsonette.

"Nora, I-hoo my lord-you're uh, you're embarrassing Ruby, and the other girl"

 **(A/N: Shameless shipping of Whiterose, even though I don't particularly like that ship. I prefer Checkmate, or Under the Schnee(Neptune and Weiss), a lot more. For Ruby, it'd have to be Ladybug, Rainbow Rose, Red Sea, or Lancaster. TBH Neon and Ruby, Rainbow Rose, makes sense to me because of their personalities, both energetic and a bit quirky. Ruby and Neptune, because Neptune and Ruby both like to have fun, and both seem to share the same personality. Intelligent and friendly, as well as dorky, Sue me if you want, at least I'm not shipping Rosewick.)**

Ruby stood, and quickly dashed out of the dressing room to escape Weiss' icy glare and Nora's lewd insinuations, and found that Sun had filled her sister and father's order, and was currently sitting and talking with them. Ruby waited a minute for her face to return to normal, then walked over to their table, and slid into the seat next to Sun, across from Yang and Tai.

"Hey Ruby, how'd it go with the Weisscream Truck?" Ruby laughed a little, then frowned.

"How did you know her name?"

"Fletch told us" Ruby nodded.

"Well, I uh, gave her my silver shirt since I kinda ruined her shirt, then Nora came in and started making lewd jokes. So all in all, it wasn't that good of a tradeoff for a half-assed apology from the Ice Queen"

"Heh, that sounds like Nora alright. Hey, we were all gonna go out to the beach for a sunset party today, and Fletch told me to invite you, so...wanna come?" Sun flashed a hopeful smile and crossed his fingers, looking at Ruby as she thought.

"Uh, sure! Sounds fun, Sun" Sun laughed and fist pumped.

"Nice, Blake owes me 10 L! She thought you wouldn't want to go because of Nora!"

Ruby laughed too, then turned to her dad, who was examining Sun. "Ruby, midn introducing us to your coworker?" Ruby raised an eyebrow at Tai, suspecting that she knew what he as thinking.

"Uh thi-"

"Sun Wukong, at your service sir. I'm a server here at Crescent Rose, and I'll be the one your daughter and our other rookie will be shadowing tomorrow. Nice to meet you Mister Rose!"

"It's Mister Xiao Long, actually, Sun" Sun cocked his head, confused, as he looked from Yang, to Ruby, to Taiyang, trying to piece together a puzzle, before just shrugging. "So, Sun, do you have any, 'interest' in your coworkers?"

"Yes sir! There is this one, with long black hair, and a bow, and I'm planning on asking her out today at the sunset party. I was actually gonna ask Ruby and our coworker Nora for help, because they're girls so they know what girls like and stuff" Tai smiled and nodded.

"So Ruby, I'm proud of you. You got yo-" Tai was interrupted when Weiss' hand shot out of nowhere, latched onto Ruby's shoulder, and pulled her up to her feet.

"We need to talk, Ruby" With a grunt, Weiss pulled Ruby up to her feet and dragged her to the door of the diner, then through the door to the outside, before turning to her. "Okay, two things, first, I'm Weiss Schnee, nice to meet you, and second, I'm assuming you know Mister Arc's son right, so how do I get him to shut up? He is trying to flirt with me and I simply am not interested"

"So, you're asking me for help?"

"Yes"

"Right, so, I don't know Jaune very well, because I haven't spoken to him much in my like, ten hours here today. I probably won't get to know anyone well, because I don't have social skills, and this job does not require social skills at all"

"What? Of course the job needs social skills! You'll be dealing with customers all day!"

"All you need to do is smile and act happy, Weiss Queen. Not exactly rocket science"

"Pff, I can act happy, obviously, but I'm just saying you need to have some social nuances when working here! But we're not here to talk about the job, I really need help to get Jaune to stop flirting with me. I mean, like, he is already on my nerves, and it has only been a few minutes!"

"Weiss, just say you aren't interested, and maybe try to say it nicely? I don't know if you can do that though, considering your icy attitude. I mean, just look at how you thanked me when I lent you the shirt you're wearing right now!"

Weiss blushed a little, then looked at Ruby. "I'll give it back tonight, at the sunset party. Nora invited me, and by invited me, I mean she told me to come, and I was afraid of saying no. I'll swing by my house and grab a new shirt then give this to you, alright?" Ruby nodded and smiled, then rolled her shoulders.

"Weiss, I promise I'll make this stuff up to you. I'll be the best coworker you've ever had, and you're gonna be begging to be my friend by your second week!"

"I seriously doubt that"

"Doubt all you want, Weiss, but you'll be surprised when you come crawling back to me, begging me to give you the time of day!" Weiss frowned and rolled her eyes, and walked back inside. Ruby shook her head. _Feels like Weiss can't decide whether she wants to be nice or be Weiss cold. First she apologized to me, then she yells at me and tells me I'll need to make things up to her. Now she asks me for help! This is going to be complicated. Maybe if I make her a present or something she'll stop being such a little baby._ With a smile Ruby walked inside, just as Fletch walked into the room.

"Alright, clean up boys and girls! Get this place looking tidy, and get ready for the party. It starts in an hour, and none of you are going to miss it. That means you too, Ice Queen!" Everyone started rushing around, cleaning everything off and setting away some of the dishes that were still on the tables. "Also, Weiss Queen needs a ride home, her sister is 'busy' and called me to say that she would need to hitch a ride to Evergreen Apartments. Any takers?" Ruby's eyes widened, recognizing the name Evergreen Apartments. _That's where I live!_

"Yo!" Ruby startled herself, not even realizing that she had raised her hand and spoke until everyone looked at her. "I live at Evergreen Apartments, so Yang and I can try and to take her home"

"Ruby, my bike can't fit three people"

"Yang, you came here in Dad's car, Bumblebee isn't even in the parking lot" Yang smiled and shrugged.

"Alright, that's that. I won't be at the party tonight, so I'm leaving supervision to Jaune. Ciao guys!" Ruby looked at Yang and Tai, then smiled and walked over to Weiss.

"Follow me, I'll show you to the car!" Weiss groaned, but nodded, and Ruby led her out to Taiyang's car, then opened the door for her, and got in on the other side and sat next to Weiss. She pulled out her scroll and tapped a few times, going to her contacts and creating a blank contact, before smirking, turning, and snapping a picture of Weiss' profile to use as her contact photo. "Alright, Weiss, put your number in and hit create contact!"

"What?"

"Well, if we're gonna be partners and friends, I need your number. So, go ahead, put your number in!" Weiss, huffed, but took the scroll, reluctantly putting her number in, and then creating her contact. She then hit new contact, and brought up a blank contact, and entered a number in, then hit create contact. "Whoa, who's number was that?"

"My sister's, in case you can't reach me. Hopefully you'll never have to use it" The driver's side and passenger's side door up front opened up as Taiyang and Yang slid into the car. Taiyang looked into the backseat, checking over Ruby, then Weiss, before frowning.

"Weiss, seat belt, now" Taiyang's voice was commanding, and brooked no argument. Weiss found herself buckling herself in before she was even half through formulating a response to Ruby's father. "Good, now, Yang, directions to the apartment please? You weren't exactly home when you called me so I have, no clue, as to how to get to your place"

Yang smiled and pulled her scroll out, pulling up a map of Vale and zeroing in on Evergreen Apartments. "Just over here Dad, let's get going!"

 **Disclaimer:**

 **For any of you that read RWBY: Red Rover, an apology is in order. I have missed my last two scheduled uploads, and spent this night working on my pet project rather than my main story. That being said, this chapter is much shorter than I would have liked it, and I'm rather displeased, but I'm not capable of mustering the energy to write another few pages of words, and therefore, this will be Chapter 2, Part 1, and Chapter 2, Part 2 will be released alongside RWBY: Red Rover Chapter 8 tomorrow, hopefully, or on Saturday, in place of the still delayed RWBY: Little Rover short story that I have yet to even begin writing.**

 **Now, with the disclaimer over, feel free to yell at me about my ships. I'll take it all in stride anyways. I don't have much to say tonight, except for this. I'm really pissed. I have a massive sunburn because I was out all yesterday helping out with a local recreational soccer league, and it stings like fuck whenever touched. Naturally, every single person and their mother wanted to slap the sunburn and ask if it hurt. On top of that I've been having pains in my knee, and they won't stop. Anyways, enough ranting, I hope you enjoyed!**

 **Love,**

 **CathedralOfFiction**

 **AKA**

 **James**


	3. Chapter 2, Part 2: Beach Olympics

**I'm back! After a brief fight with Charter about them cutting off all the internet for Charter customers in the area, I have managed to get up and write again! Now that I can write, I am bringing you RWBY: Bystanders Chapter 2, Part 2. Now, last chapter, we had Ruby snarking Weiss, and Nora revealing that she ships White Rose, as well as Ruby finding out that Weiss lives in her building. This chapter will be a fun filled festival of memes, so buckle in and prepare to get memed.**

 **Chapter 2, Part 2: Beach Olympics**

Weiss sighed a little as Ruby, Yang and Taiyang all sang, loudly and very out of tune, to the third pop song that had come on while they were stuck in traffic. While Weiss was annoyed by their singing, she was more annoyed that Ruby continued to try and get her to join in, and was even more annoyed that her father was trying to get her to sing too.

"Come on Weiss, Ruby asked nicely! Just sing with us, a song or two! Or all of them!" Taiyang turned the radio up a little, and began swaying back and forth in his seat, while keeping an eye on traffic, in case the cars should start moving. Which they hadn't done in about nine minutes.

"No. I refuse. I will not sing those stupid pop songs. I prefer-"

"Classical?"

"Holiday?"

"Country?"

"Opera?"

"Folk?"

"New Age?"

Weiss scowled as the three sniped their guesses at her. "No, rock" Weiss saw their eyes widen, and felt confused. "What? What is it?"

Ruby giggled uncontrollably. "You like rock music? But you're so...so...stuck up-ish!"

"Hey!"

"Sorry! But I mean, you kinda acted like a brat, and really, I wouldn't expect brats to listen to rock. So, who is your favourite band?"

"Crocea Mors, if you must know"

"OHMYOUMWEISSILOVETHEMMARRYME"

"Excuse me?" Weiss blinked confusedly, one of her eyebrows arcing up as Ruby handed her headphones to Weiss and pulled out her scroll. Within seconds, Weiss heard the sound of Crocea Mors new hit, Jaunedice, playing full blast. A small smile crept onto her face. _Maybe this Ruby chick might not be the worst to work with._ Quietly nodding along with the music, Weiss saw Ruby bouncing excitedly in her seat. "Wow, Ruby, I honestly didn't think we'd have anything in common, let alone music tastes" Ruby smiled and nodded.

"Oh my Oum, Weiss, we can be like, best music friends!"

"That uh, might be taking it too far Ruby. We can certainly be good colleagues, but I don't think I've known you long enough to call you a friend yet. I mean, we just met today, and you did spill copious amounts of chocolate all over my shirt" Ruby rolled her eyes and blew hair out of her eyes as Weiss handed the headphones back, and pulled out her own, a pair of white headphones with snowflakes all over them, and began listening to music to drown out Ruby's resumed singing. The car jerked forward as the traffic finally got moving again, and within minutes, Taiyang pulled up to Evergreen Apartments.

"Alright, girls, this is your stop. Ruby, Yang, I'd love to stay, but I just remembered I made a promise to watch my buddy's house when he leaves town, and he is leaving in like an hour, so I need to zip. Ciao girls!" With a wave, Taiyang kicked the three girls out of the car and sped away.

"Alright, Weiss, lead me to your apartment!"

"Ruby, what?"

"Your apartment, come on! Let's go!"

"Ruby, why would I take you to where I live?"

"So I can get my shirt back? Plus, I wanna meet your sister!"

"Ruby, no. We're not even friends yet, I'm not gonna take you to meet my sister"

"What's the deal, Weiss? It's just meeting a sister. It's not like you're taking a date to meet your dad or anything"

 **(A/N: But it could be Ruby, it could be.)**

Weiss scowled, but reluctantly began to walk towards the main entrance of Evergreen Apartments with Ruby in tow. They entered the lobby and went to the elevators, taking them up a floor above Ruby's apartment, before stepping out into the hall, and walking up to a door with a paper mache snowflake on the door. In a few seconds, Weiss had the door unlocked, and was inside, dropping a small satchel on a table to the side of the door.

"Winter! I'm home! We have company! Look presentable!" A loud groan sounded from a bedroom down the hall, followed by a loud thump.

"Weiss, I'm always presentable!"

"I meant get dressed you dunce!"

"I'm always dressed, Weiss. I barely ever change out of my work clothes before falling asleep!"

"Just get out here then!"

A door cracked open and a woman with white hair up in a bun with a large part of her hair covering a section of her face, wearing a grey t-shirt, a white leather jacket, and blue jeans, stepped out to examine Weiss and Ruby. Especially Ruby.

"Did you get the job, little sister?"

"Yes, I did. Winter, meet Ruby, my working partner from The Crescent Rose Diner! Ruby, meet my sister, Winter!"

The two awkwardly shook hands, and Winter stared intently at Ruby, then to the shirt that Weiss was wearing.

"Hmm, Weiss, that isn't your shirt. Would it happen to belong to Ruby here?"

"Uh, yeah, why?"

"What happened to the shirt I picked out for you today? I seem to remember it being white, not silver, and not have a rose design on it. So what happened to it?"

Ruby stepped in front of Weiss and smiled. "I happened, Miss Winter. I tripped and spilled something on Weiss' shirt and I gave her mine to wear, so she wouldn't have to wear a shirt with a giant chocolate stain on the front."

"Well, aren't you generous? Here I was thinking Weiss had suddenly developed good taste in fashion. Anyways, I suppose I must thank you for aiding my sister, Ruby"

Ruby simply smiled and nodded, while Weiss glared at Winter, before pushing past both girls to head to her room. Winter yawned, and went over to the kitchenette, and began preparing something, then came back with a bowl of rice a minute later. After a few minutes of awkward silence, with Winter silently examining Ruby thoroughly, while Ruby quietly stood, watching Winter eat rice, Weiss came back out, a pair of shorts and a t-shirt on, and Ruby's shirt folded in her hand. "Ruby, here, your shirt. I'll uh, see you tonight at the beach?"

"Sure thing Weisscream!"

"Don't call me that"

"You'll learn to love it!" Ruby smiled, waved, then turned and walked straight out the door of Weiss' apartment, running to the stairs and then down a floor and a hall until she reached her own apartment, where she walked in, marched straight to her room, and began digging through her dressers. Yang peeked into the room to see what was going on.

"What's going on?"

"I'm getting an outfit and something to swim in. We're heading to the beach for a party or something for Crescent Rose. Something about initiation for the new guys. Tradition, I guess" Ruby continued to rifle through her personal belongings, until she found what she was looking for. A one-piece swimming suit, a pair of grey cargo shorts, and a red shirt with a scythe design on it. Smiling, she stood up and pushed Yang out of the way, rapidly changing into her desired outfit, then smiling into the mirror as she tried to fix her hair, which had gotten a bit out of hand through the course of the day. Feeling satisfied after a few moments, Ruby walked back over into her room and noticed Yang was gone. Shrugging, she took out her sketchbook and other assorted tools, and begin rapidly doing a sketch of Weiss, but instead of dressed in the white t-shirt and blue jeans she had earlier, Ruby was envisioning her in the trappings of a queen, partly due to the Weiss Queen/Ice Queen nickname that had caught on so quickly, and partly because Weiss just seemed so proper. As she was adding colours, primarily white and bright blues, Yang walked in and peered at her work.

"Wow, making friends and getting a crush in one day Ruby? Maybe you aren't as socially hopeless as I thought!"

"Yang, listen here for a moment. Just because I don't have many friends, that doesn't mean I can't be social, and it certainly doesn't mean that I'm socially incapable. I'm not some little kid, Yang. I dunno if you saw in the diner, but a socially inept person would not of handled the Weiss Queen situation like that. They wouldn't of handled it at all. I think I'm qualified enough to say that I'm not a social outcast, Yang. I'm not a kid, and I'd like it if you didn't try to treat me like one"

"Look, Ruby, I just thought that you might need help breaking out of your shell…"

"Breaking out of it would imply I was in it in the first place, Yang. I've never had to break out of any shell, and I won't have to. Besides, the only reason I never really had many friends, and still don't, is because I chose and still choose not to." Ruby turned back to her work, and finished adding colouring to it, before smiling and gently removing it from her sketchbook and rising to place it into her satchel, before returning to her bed, and looking up to Yang. "As for having a crush, I wasn't just gonna draw Weiss. I was gonna draw everyone. Just for your comments though, I'm gonna make you a clown" Ruby began sketching a picture of Jaune, putting him in the trappings of a knight, armour on his body and a sword and shield in his hands, raised to an unseen attacker. Yang frowned, but walked out, thinking about Ruby's words.

 _She is only 19, but she sounds like Mom sometimes. Maybe she's right. I mean, she did handle the Weiss thing. But on the other hand, she barely has any friends, but claims to be fine socially. Ruby is just a kid. She needs this help. She claims she has this under control, but she is still just a little kid..she doesn't know what she is talking about._

Meanwhile, Ruby was adding finishing touches to her Jaune portrait. Ruby loved it. Setting it in her satchel with the Weiss portrait, she started a portrait of Ren. Idly, she noted that she was drawing some high-quality stuff faster than most people could draw something of medium quality, pumping out drawings and sketches with startling speed. Ruby always liked going fast, so that was fine with that. As she drew, she idly thought about her day. _Hmm, maybe I could live with having more friends. Some of them seem eccentric, and Weiss seems a bit bratty, but nice at times, but hey, they are all cool. I could live with them. Maybe._ Ruby had finished her sketch of Ren, dressed as some sort of ninja, and had placed it in her satchel, and was about to start a sketch of Pyrrha, dressed as some sort of legionaire, when she realized she probably had less than a half hour to get to the party. Grabbing her scroll, Ruby texted Weiss:

Ruby: **Weiss, are you still in your house?**

Weiss: **Ruby, is this you? Yes I'm here.**

Ruby: **Yes it's me, Weiss, we need to get to the party**

Weiss: **Winter can't drive, she's dead asleep, and didn't your dad leave? How are we supposed to get there?**

Ruby: **Weiss, we can run there. It isn't too far away, and we can just run and be like, ten or fifteen minutes late**

Weiss: **Whatever, fine, I'll meet you outside**

Jumping up from her bed, Ruby grabbed her sketchbook and tools, put them in a satchel, and carefully stuffed the unfinished Pyrrha in as well, then ran for the door, bowling over Yang in the process. Running to the stairs, she briskly made her way down, reaching the lobby at the same time as Weiss, who took the elevator. Grabbing Weiss by the arm, Ruby led the way outside, and the pair started jogging towards the piers, and the beach where the party was supposed to happen. After a half hour, they both ran up to a bonfire, encircled by the other workers from the diner, as the sun was setting.

"Hey ladies! We thought you were gonna miss the fun! What brings you here so late, huh?" Sun smiled and high fived Ruby, then fistbumped Weiss, who had been attempting to just shake hands, and they both then passed him to sit down onto the log benches around the fire, and catch their breath.

"Forgot the party was...so close...left late…" Ruby panted between words and Weiss merely nodded in agreement, her breath equally ragged.

"Well, glad you two could come. Catch your breath, you're gonna need it"

"Wait, Sun, why would we need it?" Ruby cocked her head at Sun, who shook his head and laughed as Jaune walked up, smiling.

"You'll need it to do the gauntlet. Every rookie does it, and now it's your turn. Weiss goes first" Jaune flashed a crooked grin, his eyes gleaming with malicious intent.

"G-Gauntlet? Wh-What's that?" Weiss gulped and stuttered, her mind racing to think what Jaune could be about to put them through.

"First, you walk the tight beam, while we throw stuff at you. Then, you do the obstacle course, complete with hurdles, crawls, a monkey bars part, a wall climb, and an agility test, while we throw stuff at you. Lastly, is the the 200 meter dash while we-"

"Throw stuff at us?" Ruby cocked her head a little, smiling as she knew the answer.

"No, where we shoot at you with tennis ball guns, and throw stuff at you" Jaune smiled as Weiss faded paler than her usual skin tone, making her an almost pure snow white. "So Weiss first, right guys?"

"Nah, same day hires, same time running the gauntlet. Makes it more fun" Blake was laughing at seeing both girls panic. Ruby was nice, so she almost felt bad for her. As for Weiss, Blake knew who she was, a Schnee, of course, and felt less bad about it. Less bad, she still felt bad though. "Twice the girls, twice the fun, amirite ladies?"

All the others cheered and started grabbing tennis ball guns and baskets of stuff to throw, like dodgeballs and other assorted balls from different sports, like soccer and volleyball. Jaune led Weiss and Ruby to the 'tight beam', a long wooden beam, about 20 feet, and helped each of them get up onto their own separate beams, before running back to the group and lining up, like they were a firing squad, there to execute the two youn women. Ruby reached over to Weiss, grabbed her hand, and gave it a reassuring squeeze. "Stay strong Weiss, we'll get through this together!"

Weiss scowled. "Shut up, don't touch me!" Nevertheless, she gave Ruby's hand a squeeze as well, before slipping her hand out and preparing to be tortured by the others.

"ALRIGHT MAGGOTS!" Sun's cool, nonchalant tone had changed to that of a drill sergeant as he grinned maliciously at Ruby and Weiss. "RULES ARE AS FOLLOWS! IF WE HIT ONE OF YOU MAGGOTS, YOU GET TEN SECONDS ADDED ONTO YOUR TIME! IF YOU FALL OFF, YOU START FROM THE BEGINNING OF THE OBSTACLE YOU FELL OF OF, AND IF YOU FALL OFF FOUR TIMES, YOU LOSE! YOUR OBJECTIVE IS TO GET YOUR WORTHLESS CARCASSES OVER TO THE FINISH LINE IN ONE AND A HALF MINUTES, OR BEFORE THE OTHER MAGGOT! AM I UNDERSTOOD!?" Both girls hastily nodded as the group of people by Sun all openly laughed. Sun held up a hand, with five fingers out, and began counting down silently. When he put his last finger down, Ruby and Weiss began briskly walking across the tight beam. Weiss walked with impeccable balance and grace, dodging thrown objects and keeping her balance with ease, whereas Ruby constantly struggled and only dodged objects by sheer luck, but still kept her balance moving forward relentlessly, in fact, moving faster than Weiss. Ruby reached the end of her beam and hopped off stopping to cheer for a second, only to get beaned in the side of the head by a soccer ball.

"OW! Why the face!?" she cried, as she rubbed her cheek where the word Wilson was now imprinted because of the soccer ball. Meanwhile, Weiss reached the end of her beam, hopped off, and with a strangled screech rolled under a volley of dodgeballs. Both girls made it to the beginning of the agility test, where they beheld two sets of monkey bars over a pit of red water.

"Don't worry, it's just fruit punch. Unfortunately, it leaves some pretty nice stains. Sorry Weiss. Don't fall!" Weiss looked down at her light blue snowflake t-shirt, and her white athletic shorts, and whimpered. Meanwhile, Ruby was half way across the monkey bars, gritting her teeth and yelping as a dodgeball hit her and knocked one of her hands off the monkey bars just as she swung for the next bar. She fell a little, but through some miracoulous turn of fate, managed to catch the bars and keep going. Weiss was reaching the halfway mark on her set of bars, while Ruby was finishing up. Weiss, furious that Ruby was winning, started to pick up the pace, and nearly dropped as a basketball hit her in the stomach.

"SORRY!" Weiss smiled slightly as she heard Pyrrha's voice, at least, she thought it was Pyrrha, she wasn't too good with names, and only remembered Ruby because of the annoyance she had caused her, but that was besides the point. At any rate, Weiss continued on, wheezing slightly because the basketball had knocked the wind out of her. With a grunt, she dropped down to the sand and saw that Ruby was halfway through the next obstacle, which seemed a bit harder than the last. There was a small pool of mroe fruit punch, with a bunch of small inflatable platforms in it. Ruby was quite nimbly leaping from platform to platform and straight into the punch bowl as she missed a jump, and began to swim back through the fruit punch. Weiss giggled at that, and began to jump.

"Better luck next time, Ruby!" Weiss snickered again, then yelped as she felt a hand close around her ankle and drag her into the punch, staining her white and bright blue clothes a light pink. "Ow! You can't do that, Ruby!"

"Ruby can do that actually, and we normally encourage it." Weiss shot daggers over at Ren, who calmly smiled back at her, and nailed her in the forehead with a ping pong ball. Weiss took to swimming after Ruby, who was just getting up on the shore, and beginning her second run. Weiss grit her teeth, and followed after her beginning to jump and keep pace with Ruby, both of them finishing at relatively the same time, and they both looked and groaned as they saw the next obstacle. Hurdles. Ruby took a couples steps back and ran and jumped the first hurdle, then the second, and barely the third before she slowed down and started to execute highly unprofessional hops over the hurdles. Weiss merely smiled, and followed suit of Ruby, except she didn't stop, and continued bounding over hurdles.

"Gotta be faster Ruby!" she called, laughing gleefully. That is, laughing until she heard Jaune call out to her.

"Ruby just passed you Ice Queen!"

"WHAT!?" Weiss looked at the next obstacle, a fake rock wall with mats around it in case someone fell, and saw Ruby a fourth of the way up. "GET BACK HERE YOU LITTLE RED RUFFIAN!"

Ruby laughed and looked down at Weiss, who was just starting the rock climb, then began to pick up speed, climbing faster, her feet and hands almost automatically finding holds. Before long, she crested the top, and began down the other side, and was surprised to see Weiss dangerously close, having slid down from the top before grabbing a hand and foot hold. Ruby grunted, and let go of the rock wall, dropping the last half straight to the ground, then popping up to her feet and running to the next and final obstacle before the 200 meter dash, the rope climb slash trench crawl.

"You're kidding me, right? This is a bit much.." Weiss trailed off as she saw that no one was kidding anyone, then shrugged and leapt at the rope net, and began climbing it, feeling sorta like a pirate scaling the rigging of a ship as she followed Ruby up the nets. As she reached the platform at the top, she was surprised to see Ruby waiting for her, and even more surprised when Ruby hugged her after she stood up.

"Good luck, Weiss!" With that, Ruby slid down to the ground on the other side of the platform and dove into the trench, crawling like her life depended on it. Weiss blinked, then shook her head and followed suit, soon reaching the halfway point of the trench while Ruby did the same, having been told to go back to the start when she touched the rope on top of the trench.

 _Good Oum this girl is fast!_ Weiss grit her teeth after thinking that, then began to focus solely on beating Ruby, crawling like a maniac for the end of the trench, which was mercifully not filled with mud or anything, just punch and wet sand. Both girls came out of the trench at the same time, but Ruby was the first to start the 200 meter dash. She was at a dead sprint and Weiss was barely able to stay within four meters of her. They ran for a few seconds, and as they neared the end of the dash, objects and tennis balls flying all around them, and every so often impacting with their bodies, Weiss grit her teeth and began to gain on Ruby, slowly catching up to her, and looking to pass her. Weiss cheered as she crossed the finish line, and was about to taunt Ruby, when she heard Blake yelling.

"It's a tie! Ladies and gentlemen, and Sun, it's a tie!"

"Oh now that's mean Blake." Sun laughed though, and Weiss's jaw dropped.

 _A tie? How in Remnant was that a tie! I obviously crossed first!_ Before she could protest, Ruby hugged her again, getting even more sand and punch on both of them, and laughed.

"Weiss! We did it! I told you we'd get through it together!"

Weiss hugged Ruby back then looked at her and laughed. "I told you not to touch me." Ruby laughed and let Weiss go as the others came over to congratulate them.

"How did you guys build this stuff? Like, on such short notice?" Ruby was thoroughly confused at how a bunch restaurant employees had built a little course like this without the city taking notice, and therefore wanted some answers.

"We didn't. The city did. This was the old Summer Games course, before they made the bigger one on the other side of the beach, like ten or twenty miles from here. We just repurposed it, and now it's like thirty percent more awesome." Nora smiled, then produced two buttons, the kind that you pin onto shirts, from the back pocket of her jeans, and handed them to Ruby and Weiss. They had the Crescent Rose logo and the words _Crescent Rose Beach Olympics_ on them.

"Now, what say we all swim then?" Pyrrha was smiling, and taking off her jeans and shirt to reveal her swimsuit, a red and bronze bikini, and Jaune was standing next to her, simply taking off his jeans to reveal he had been wearing his swimming trunks, a white and black pair, the whole time.

"Yeah! We didn't come just to humiliate Weiss and Ruby, did we?"

"Speaking of Weiss and Ruby," Ruby interjected, "What where our times?"

"Two minutes thirteen seconds! Both of you!" called Blake. Ruby nodded happily then took off her shirt and cargo pants and turned to Weiss, surprised to see she wasn't getting ready to swim.

"Weiss, are you not gonna swim? Did you forget your swimsuit!? Don't worry I brough a spare because I thought you might forget, and I wanted to be a good friend. Here, let me go get it!"

"Ruby wait! I didn't forget it, but I mean, I dunno if I want to swim."

"Why not?"

"Because I'd be mostly naked in front of a large group of people that I don't know very well."

"Pffff whatever Weiss. It'll be fine. They're good people, from all I can tell. I'm almost certain that nobody would say anything."

Weiss shrugged a little, then sighed and began to change, pulling off her shorts and t-shirt, revealing her swimsuit, a pure white bikini. Just as she finished changing, Sun strolled up and smiled. "Right, we're about to play some stupid game Jaune invented that sounds just like keepie uppie, you two ladies want to join us, or are you gonna stand over here having more conspiritorial lover talks?" Weiss rolled her eyes and nodded, while Ruby only nodded and began to walk to the water with Sun, who stopped to pull his jeans, jacket and shirt off, before running to catch up, now only clad in a pair of red and silver swimming trunks. As they walked, Nora, Ren and Blake joined up with them. Nora was wearing a pink and white one piece swimsuit, and Ren and a swimsuit that covered mostly his whole body save for head, hands and feet, and was a dull green with white and gold stripes, while Blake wore a pitch black bikini and a pair of dark sunglasses.

"Hey Weiss, I overheard what you and Ruby were talking about. Look, don't worry about it, no one will be paying much attention to what you're wearing. They'll be paying more attention to what you're doing when we stary playing games. So try not to do too bad, and you'll mostly avoid attention." Blake smiled then turned and began talking to Sun, while Nora dragged Ren over to Weiss and Ruby.

"Hiya rookies!"

"Hello Weiss, Ruby."

"Hi Nora, hi Ren."

"What Ruby said."

Ruby and Weiss smiled as Ren and Nora fell in step with them, and laughed a little as Nora began to skip and hop around wildly, while Ren just casually kept walking, and started to make conversation. "So, Weiss, sorry about hitting you with a ping pong ball. No hard feelings, right?"

"It's fine Ren, you were just having a bit of fun. I understand." Ren nodded and smiled then looked at Ruby and stifled a laugh.

"What? What is it Ren?"

"You still have a soccer ball imprinted onto your cheek, Ruby." Ruby reached up and felt her cheek, where there were most definitely the imprints of a soccer ball, and scowled.

"Perfect..."

"I dunno Ruberino, I think it makes you look rugged, like a scar or something. Hey, chicks dig scars!" Nora laughed and raised her eyebrows jokingly, while quietly jerking a thumb towards Weiss and winking. Ruby laughed a little and rolled her eyes. Suddenly Ren grinned and took off at a dead sprint, a mischevious look on his face, and jumped at Jaune, who was near the shore, and tackled him, bringing him down under water. Nora laughed, then, with surprising strength, grabbed both Ruby and Weiss, and slung them over her shoulders like sacks of grain, and waded into the water, and dived in, bringing the two protesting girls with her. Surfacing, Ruby and Weiss saw Nora laughing manically. "Having fun yet?"

Weiss was about to give Nora a piece of her mind when Jaune stormed past chasing Ren with a lighthearted smile on his face. "C'mere Ren! C'mere!" Weiss blinked then blinked again as a splash of water hit her in the face. Turning angrily, she saw Ruby giggling, and was about to speak when Ruby splashed her again. Weiss growled, and vigourously splashed Ruby, who laughed again, and splashed Weiss a third time, this time with Weiss laughing as well. About two hours later, everyone was out of the water and sitting on the log benches around the fire. Nora was telling some tall tale involving sloths and a trip to Mistral she took with Ren, while Ren quietly interjected every so often, to clarify things. Jaune was busy tuning a guitar, while Sun was busy stealthily flicking Blake's thigh and listening ot Nora's story. Blake was listening to Nora's story while angrily nudging Sun and humming. Weiss was laughing and listening intently to Nora's story while brushing her hair. Ruby was quietly finishing up a sketch of Sun, as some sort of staff-wielding samurai, and starting a sketch of Nora as a viking explorer, then finishing it quickly. She started a second sketch of Weiss, in a long overcoat with soon to be red trim and gold epaulets, a ruffle shirt, soon to be brown pants, and also soon to be polished black boots, holding up a rapier in her right hand, looking ready to duel someone, and she was beginning to colour it after a few minutes when Sun sat down next to her, and looked at what she was doing.

"Hey Ruby, drawing? That's pretty good. Why is Weiss like, a general from the Mistralian revolution?"

"Dunno, just felt like it. Thought it suited her. I drew one of you, Sun! Wanna see it?"

"Dude, nice. Yeah, show it to me." Ruby smiled and grabbed her satchel, and began ruffling through it, looking for the portrait she drew of Sun. As she was drawing, Sun snatched the earlier portrait of Weiss and began to look at it, unbeknownst to Ruby, who was still looking for her Sun sketch. "Wow, guess Weiss really made an impression on you, huh?"

Ruby perked up, and turned to Sun, the portrait of him in her hand, and made a strangled sound when she saw that Sun was holding the portrait of Weiss she made at home. "Gah! Where did you find that!?"

"It was in your satchel, next to a drawing of Jaune."

"So you looked through my satchel!?"

"No, I just noticed it. Besides, I'm surprised you didn't notice, you were looking through the satchel too. So, do have like, a crush on Weiss or something?"

"No of course not. I just didn't like the first drawing, so I decided to make a new one. Here, give that back, I'll trade you for the one I did of you."

"Sure, sounds fair." Sun forked over the Weiss Queen drawing and took the one of him, then smiled as he looked at it. "Dude, I look cool as a samurai. That staff looks cool too. Ruby, this is like, really good. Have you thought about becoming an artist?"

"I am an artist."

"Oh." Sun laughed a little and went back to looking at the picture, then smiled a little, and quietly put the portrait of him into Ruby's satchel. "So, why are you drawing all of us?"

"I like to draw the people I meet. I still have to draw Blake, and maybe Jaune's dad. Then I'll put you all together in one big drawing, make it like an extra cool group photo, minus the photo." Ruby smiled, and finished the drawing of Weiss, then stored it away and started a drawing of Blake. In the drawing Blake, was wearing pitch black ninja gear, with ornamental armour on it, holding a large katana. After a few minutes of silence, Sun leaned over and looked at the picture, then smiled.

"Now THAT'S a katana!"

"Oh shut up, Sun." Nevertheless, Ruby laughed a little, and finished the drawing just as Nora finished her most likely extremely tall tale. Ruby made a show of looking up and pretending like she had been listening while secretly stowing away her last drawing.

"...and that's how I got this scar on my arm!"

"Actually, she slipped and fell down a couple stairs, and busted her arm open on the bottom stair."

Everyone started laughing, and Sun and Ruby followed suit, wanting to look like they had actually heard the whole story. Suddenly Jaune stood up, triumphantly holding his now tuned guitar. "Alright, now that the guitar is finally fixed and tuned after what Blake did to it, I can actually play it again!" A small cheer went out, and Pyrrha stood up to stand next to Jaune. "Alright, Ruby, Weiss, you guys are in for a treat! You get to hear Pyrrha sing, while I play backup on the guitar." Jaune sat down, and experimentally played a small tune on his guitar, then gave Pyrrha a nod. He started playing what sound like an acoustic version of Milo by Crocea Mors, and Pyrrha gave a light smile, and began to sing the aforementioned song.

"Wow, Pyrrha's voice is so pretty!" Ruby was awed by Pyrrha's singing, and Weiss clandestinely reached over and used her pointer finger to help Ruby close her comically dropped jaw.

"Indeed it is. I didn't think a song like that could work as acoustic, but, Pyrrha and Jaune really make it work." Ruby nodded her head in agreement and quieted down, listening to Pyrrha sing. So enraptured was she, that she didn't notice when her satchel tipped over and the drawing of Weiss as a queen fluttered out and slid over to Weiss, who felt it it brush against her foot, and stooped to pick it up.

"Whoa, who drew this?" Ruby looked over, and gave out a small yelp as she saw that Weiss was holding the portrait Ruby made of her. Sun laughed when he saw what Weiss was holding, then looked at her.

"Ruby drew it!"

"Gah! Sun why'd you say that!?"

"Well I mean you told me, so I thought you didn't have a problem with people knowing...sorry."

"Ruby? This is really good, but why am I a queen? Not that I wouldn't like to be, but..y'know..."

"Well at first I kinda thought you were a bit snotty so I tried to draw you as a snobby queen, but I mean, I felt bad so I drew a new one...here..." Ruby pulled her new portrait out and handed it to Weiss, who graciously accepted it, then frowned when she saw it. "Oh, is it not good?"

"No, Ruby it's wonderful, but...I'm holding the sword in my right hand...I'm left handed."

"Pffff. Don't worry, I can redraw it in like, three or four minutes tops, make it right."

Blake chimed in precisely then, a devilish smirk on her face. "So looks like we have a budding romance on our hands. Little Miss ruby has been drawing portraits of the Lady Schee, has she?"

"Oh shut up, I drew one of everyone!" Ruby then grabbed her satchel and pulled out all the sketches, and then distributed them to everyone, pouting silently. Everyone ooed and ahed and the portraits, and Jaune looked up at Ruby.

"Whoa, Ruby, these are awesome! How long did this take you?"

"A couple minutes."

Jaune stood up, and walked over to where his brown leather back pack was, along with his clothes, and ruffled through it for a little bit, then came back, and handed ruby a 20 Lien bill. "Here, I'd like to buy this drawing of me from you." Ruby blinked, then took the Lien and smiled. Seconds later, everyone stood up and went to get their wallets, and suddenly Ruby was about 100 Lien richer. Weiss then walked up, and handed Ruby 40 Lien, and Ruby looked at her with a confused stare.

"40 Lien, for the queen sketch, and the fixed sketch of me with the sword and the cool overcoat." Weiss smiled, then walked away, carefully tucking the portraits into her satchel before coming back. "Right, so I probably need to get home, how long till we plan on leaving?"

"Well, I'm certain we were not going to leave for at least another hour, but I'd like to get home and put this portrait of me somewhere safe until I can get it framed." Ren smiled, holding up the portrait of him that intended to get framed, and everyone nodded and murmured agreement, then started to rise and pick up their stuff. Ruby and Weiss walked over to where their stuff was, and quickly got dressed. At least, Ruby did. She pulled on her shirt and cargo shorts, which smelled like fruit punch, and were slightly sticky, then looked over at Weiss, and rolled her eyes.

"God I barely had to say anything to get you undressed, but now I'm gonna have to give a speech to get you back in them." Ruby laughed a little and jokingly laughed at Weiss, who rolled her eyes.

"Sorry, just looking at them...they're still pink..God that's three items of clothing to add to the wash today...I shouldn't wear white near anyone from work ever again." Ruby groaned and reached into her satchel and fished around for a few seconds, then pulled out black athletic shorts and a black long sleeve t-shirt.

"I'm glad I bring spare clothes everywhere. Put these on you sissy. By the way, you owe me one." Weiss laughed and thanked Ruby, then slipped Ruby's spare shorts and shirt on.

"Thanks, Ruby. Don't I owe you two? For the shirt earlier today?" Ruby simply shook her head and then picked up her satchel and put it on, and started to walk away. Weiss put on her satchel, and started after her, then caught up. As they started walking, there was a clap of thunder, and it started to rain. "Oh that's just friggin' perfect." Ruby harrumphed, then continued to trudge along, Weiss following suit. Both girls jumped as someone honked at them, and looked over to see Ren and Nora, driving beside them in Ren's car.

"Do you two need a ride somewhere?"

A couple minutes later and they were cruising down the street talking to Nora while Ren drove. "So, why don't you two lovebirds have umbrellas?"

"Lovebirds? Come on, we just met, how could we be lovebirds?"

"I dunno, but I do know you drew two pictures of Weiss, and only one of everyone else!"

"I told you guys that I drew the second one because I wasn't happy with the first. In fact, I was gonna trash the first one anyways..."

Nora shrugged and began to speak again but was cut off by Ren. "Right, we're already here. Good night Ruby, Weiss."

"Oh..night rookies!"

Ruby and Weiss thanked Ren, and said goodnight to both him and Nora, then stepped out and sprinted to the door of the apartment complex, then strolled over to the elevator.

"So, Ruby, thanks for the pictures! They're really nice. By the way, Sun handed me this, to give to you."

Ruby grabbed what Weiss was talking about, a piece of post it note with his number and everyone elses on it, written in varying styles of handwriting. "Oh cool."

"Yeah, he told me to copy down the numbers then give it to you, so we could both have people to call in case of an emergency." Ruby nodded, then went to speak, right as the elevator chimed and the doors opened on her floor.

"Wow, quick elevator, right, bye Weiss, see you tomorrow at work!" Ruby gave Weiss a quick hug and then hopped out just as the doors closed and started down the hall to her apartment. Quickly unlocking the door, she slipped in and turned on the kitchen light and shut the door. With a sigh, she sat at the counter and took an apple from the bowl on the table, then went about entering everyone's numbers into her phone. She smiled as she saw her newly lengthened contact list, and quietly thought to herself. _Yeah, maybe I won't mind having so many friends..._

 **Rightyho! So It was cool, having my internet shut off by Charter, the bunch of lousy(wonderful) bastards(upstanding citizens). But, they turned it back on right as I left for a trip out of state, and I'm using the wi-fi here at my relatives house to post this. I also used the time on the trip down to start and nearly finish a loooooooong chapter of my other story, Red Rover. Either way, now that I'm hopefully done with my modern rendition of** _An Unfortunate Series of Events_ **, I can finally get back to writing. Ciao until next chapter everyone!**


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